


Shut Up

by The5thCat



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, help i can't stop writing these two, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:08:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23824348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The5thCat/pseuds/The5thCat
Summary: Rayla can't help but laugh when it all finally falls into place.A drabble based on the original storyboards for the end of S3:E5, "Heroes and Masterminds"
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 105





	Shut Up

**Author's Note:**

> So, I got a little bug in my brain this morning. I visited The Dragon Prince's official Twitter account yesterday and somehow or another ended up seeing some storyboards for S3:E5. Originally, it seems like there were going to be a few frames of Rayla and Callum holding each other and laughing a little bit.
> 
> Since those frames didn't quite make the final cut, I took the idea and ran with it and here we are. I've never actually written a drabble before, I've always preferred longer stuff. I guess that speaks to how much I love Rayllum (seriously someone might need to send help because lately these two are all I read and write about and I'm starting to wonder if it's a problem. Lockdown cannot end quickly enough). The little part with them laughing is actually such a small part, maybe I just wanted an excuse to do a write-up of this scene. I think everything about it is pretty perfect.
> 
> Anyway, on with the show. You all know exactly what this is. I'm sure nobody wanted it, but I wrote it all in one sitting today and it's here anyway and I hope it brings some enjoyment to some of you. Stay safe.

“That’s what makes her… Rayla,” Callum says.

Rayla is rooted to the spot, frozen. Callum’s pouring his heart out, and she can’t figure out what to say or do. _Should_ she do something? Because right now, all she can think about is last night, back at the oasis. She was so broken up she hadn’t been able to sleep, thinking she might finally be able to have a little peace and quiet to just cry.

His overly compassionate personality had quickly gone and ruined that, and she’d fought tooth and nail to keep him away from her, to keep him from seeing how utterly _weak_ she was being. It’s not her favorite memory ever.

Nyx snickers somewhere off to the side, but the Skywing con artist might as well be an entire world away right now. As far as Rayla is concerned, the entire universe has shrunk to only Callum, to the absolutely reverent look in his emerald eyes. A paralyzing shock coils up her arm when he brushes his fingers against hers, taking her hands inch by inch until his warmth completely envelops them.

“You are so…”

And then he leans into her, reaching out with those damned lips of his. He catches her lips and presses, gentle yet purposeful, and it’s everything at once.

He’d meant it back there in the oasis, _all of it,_ and when he’d tried to explain himself, she’d taken it for a rejection. She’d never been rejected, never been in the position to be, and now she was going to have to spend the rest of the journey traveling with an amazing, weird, handsome idiot who had just made it _very_ clear that he thought she was just as amazing as she thought he was, but _only as a friend,_ or even worse, perhaps more like a _sister_.

But now _he’s_ kissing _her_ this time, and it suddenly makes perfect sense. She gets into his head for all of an instant and makes the connections, goes through all the little weird thought processes that he must’ve in that moment last night, and it _makes sense._

Rayla closes her eyes so she can melt into it, melt into _him._ He tastes… sweet, despite all the sweating they’ve been doing over the last two days and their mutually desperate need for a bath.

In the end, she doesn’t even have a split-second to savor the moment, because he’s pulling away from her. Rayla reopens her eyes and no sooner does she lock her gaze with his does he stagger back and start to stammer, just like he did in the oasis.

“Oh, no, I’m sorry. I just got—carried away—and next thing I knew, my lips were getting _way_ ahead of me—”

What had he said last night, when she was busy putting herself down as lowly as possible?

Oh, yeah.

“Shut up.”

It feels almost foreign coming off of her tongue, and Callum must feel it, because he freezes as if bracing himself for her wrath. She holds his gaze, sureness rushing back into her like a desperate drink of water (ugh) as it all suddenly _makes sense. Again._

“What?” he says dumbly, and for some reason it sets her on fire.

She reaches out and curls her fingers around his scarf, hoping that she repeats herself well enough with her eyes as she tugs the two of them closer together and pauses, mere inches apart.

_Shut up._

She can’t take the space anymore. She needs to show him that she gets it, that she understands and that she feels the exact same way about him. He’s dorky and weird, and brave and noble and downright _incredible_.

Rayla lurches forward to give him a kiss of her own. She imagines how in one of those performances in the human kingdoms he once told her about (a “play”, she thinks it was called), that this is where the music would swell. She practically flips their roles from a few mere seconds ago, as he barely has any time to process what’s happening while she does all of the work.

Her hold on his scarf relaxes as she carefully retreats, her hand finding a place to rest on his chest while her other finds his. She touches her nose to his as his other hand curls around her back, keeping her from getting away.

A smile finds its way to her face, unbidden. Last night, she’d almost blown this up over a simple misunderstanding. Only because Callum decided to be braver than her does she have a handle on what she wants from him again.

She starts to laugh as she looks into his eyes, and her laughter must be infectious, because Callum starts to laugh, too. They keep their voices down, hearing only each other. Their minds are on the same track, painstakingly aware of how close they were to never making this happen, to never getting themselves on level ground with one another. To pushing each other away because of a brief, stupid lapse in understanding.

“Wow,” Callum says in between giggles, soft and angelic and oh she wants to kiss him again just for that. He’s so surprisingly charming sometimes it should be considered a crime.

“Wow,” she concurs. It’s all she knows to say. They split another soft laugh between them, and Rayla’s eyes flit down to his lips. When she meets his eyes again, there’s a beaming smile in them, their emerald green color shimmering even in the darkness.

This time—finally—they both lean forward and meet in the middle. Callum’s other hand escapes from her grip, finding purchase somewhere between her back and hip so that he can hold her with two hands and not let her go. They move in perfect sync, as if they were always meant to reach this moment. Rayla closes a fist around the fabric of his coat to likewise hold him where he is, their embrace carrying so much wonder and curiosity that Rayla just knows she’ll get lost. She doesn’t much care anymore. She’ll be happy to lose herself, as long as it’s with him.

For the first time in far, far too long, everything suddenly feels right.

The Ambler grumbles as it walks, towering above the black sand and the soul-eating snakes burrowing a world away beneath them.


End file.
